[This story from I Programmer isn’t technically news, but as someone with a medical condition that requires regular phlebotomies, I found it particularly thought-provoking. –Matthew ] A Robot With A Hypodermic Needle Written by Lucy Black 27 July 2013 Would you let a robot take your blood? The answer to this question illuminates our real relationship to machines that aspire to rise above the robot vac. Is there another sort of uncanny valley? Veebot is a very clever use of some basic image processing plus some very accurate positioning mechanisms. It first locates a good vein using infrared. Once it…

[From Hypergrid Business, where the column includes a 0:32 minute promotional video for Chuck E. Cheese’ “Virtual Ticket Blaster”] [Image: Belarus-based Amusement & Edutainment Technologies pairs an Oculus Rift with moving seats to create its 3D entertainment attraction. (Image courtesy AET.)] Virtual reality could find its first home outside the home by Kevin Williams · May 29, 2014 The arcade industry was decimated back in the mid-90’s by the advancements in consumer console games as well as a failure to adapt to changing player demographics. Virtual reality could bring it back. As a side benefit, virtual reality arcades could help…

[From Silicon Angle, where the story includes more pictures and a 16:47 minute video] [Image: Microsoft] Virtual Reality brings Big Data visualization to life Mike Wheatley | May 29th 2014 Data visualization tools have made it somewhat easier to glean intelligence from a mass of information. But today’s tools are still extremely inefficient, as they fail to incorporate the science of human visual perception into their data visualization techniques. This results in tools that deliver great “eye candy” but poor human comprehension of the data. Traditional tools also tend to visualize what we already know about the data, rather than…